Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS
AWAKE O ZION!
Noel wound up his business partnership and transferred
the proceeds to the community. We leased a shop in Northampton
and divided it into a jeans shop and a health food
store. Together with the farm, these formed House Of Goodness
Ltd., our first community business. Noel acted as farm
manager, and was often seen in his battered cloth cap walking
behind the tractor or overseeing the birth of piglets.
Lunch round the farm kitchen table was memorable. Steve
‘Faithful’ slouched between Noel and Kelly, who’d come fresh
from the building team and now expounded deep insights in
scruffy jeans. The pigman and cattleman grunted wisely whilst
John ‘Gentle’ pondered the state of the brothers and Steve
‘Stalwart’, the farm mechanic, quietly tucked into his soup.
What a heavenly bunch! Conversation ranged from potatoes
to personal hygiene — from holiness to the moods of Wilbur
the boar! Meanwhile, the weather-beaten Dave would be looking
after visitors in the dining-room.
During the evening grace times Noel would sit back and
enjoy the ministry of his brothers and sisters. It felt good to
be part of such a family and he sought to hear the wisdom of
God through them.
Community life required mutual submission. The lie was that
independence brought fulfilment. It didn’t. Community
brought fulfilment. But, boy! Some of us struggled! Rufus went
through it! He had a big ego and was used to his own scene.
Now he was one of four leaders and learning to work with
them.
We saw submission taught in the Scriptures: ‘Submit to one
another out of reverence for Christ’ (Eph 5:21). As we learned
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